Crushing the Alarm Clock
by geekysoundcat
Summary: What would happen if the Saki that arrived at Kiyosumi was… well… slightly different from the Saki that was pulled into the Mahjong room that day. How would things turn out? A little bit of confidence goes a long way.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Saki, sucks for me and you cause if I did the manga would be finished and the second season of the anime would be out!

**Author's Note: **What would happen if the Saki that arrived at Kiyosumi was… well… slightly _different _from the Saki in both the anime and manga. How would things turn out?

I love Saki, don't get me wrong. It's one of the few anime I keep on my computer instead of on my external hard-drive just so that I can watch in when ever I feel like it. I'm also bummed as all hell that I have to wait till April 2014 for the continuation of the anime to come it. It's actually pushed me to read the manga I'm so desperate. That being said I always wondered how different the whole story line would be if Saki was a different person from the one who arrived at Kiyosumi. If she'd reacted differently to things earlier on in her life or if events prior to her arrival had changed her.

Part of the reason I decided to write this story is because I'm experiencing writer's block all of my other stories. I'm hoping that writing something else will free up my mind just a bit. That means please don't expect instant updates. In fact this may not continue at all. It's all in the name of mental freedom.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge about mahjong. I can play, I just don't necessarily know the intricate details of the game. I even managed to score a Yakuman the other day. I took a picture for proof, got to have proof or nobody believes you. The point is don't crucify me if I get something wrong. I'll probably be focusing more on the people then the game anyway. If only for that reason.

**Warning: **This will contain yuri subtext, yuri overtones, yuri undertones, overt yuri and just yuri in general. If you've ever watched Saki you should know there is yuri involved. I'll probably have a bit more then that. If you don't like reading yuri / shoujo ai / femslash / lesbianism then I'm telling you now please RUN. Do not walk away from this fic… RUN! Mwahahaha! Oh the evil laughter always makes me feel better. But seriously if you don't like it don't read it. It's not what my story will revolve around - probably, though it could change - but it's there either way.

'Fishing' - Normal

_'Fishing'_ - Thoughts, Emphasis, Flashbacks and Dreams (Use logic to differentiate!)

**Chapter 1:**

Saki stared at the computer for a few moments before a growl rumbled in her chest. That lasted only seconds before it then transformed into a cute pout as she stared a bit longer. She despaired of ever managing to defeat the famed Noddochi. Why such an evil person had to exist in the world of online mahjong was beyond her knowledge, but her skills were seriously pushing Saki to question her own competence. Saki may have questioned her abilities in several areas of her life, but mahjong had never been one of them. Well, not never just not recently.

When she'd first started playing online mahjong in an attempt to reconnect with the at least partial joy she experienced with her family in the past - most importantly her sister - she'd sucked so bad at it during her first attempt it had taken her another month to even gather up her courage and try again. It had felt like she was playing blind. The feeling, insight, knowledge and her sense of flow during the game she'd been experiencing her entire life had been striped away and she'd been forced to play like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. It had actually had her a bit upset at her father for finally getting her a computer and inadvertently introducing her to this horror.

After getting over that she'd actually found it an interesting way to play. Like some kind of test of skill. So, through dogged determination her basic mahjong skill had began to improve. She doubted those skills would ever match up to the way she'd been able to play before, but even so she figured an improvement on the basics would surely improve her overall skills in the long run. Not that she'd ever had the chance to test it and she was still unable to manipulate her score into a plus minus zero when playing online. She didn't think she'd ever be able to without feeling and manipulating the flow.

Then she'd stumbled across Noddochi.

Feeling a chance to test her skills against such a legend, she'd played… and been subsequently been crushed. So she'd played again and again and again and she was sure it actually was helping her skill. She was playing better then ever in her online games, but she'd still never managed to beat the pink haired booby chick and her god damned penguin - though she doubted that the avatar was an accurate representation of the player.

She pouted at the screen once more, "I'd like to see you beat me in a real match Noddochi."

Saki was positive that if faced with Noddochi in real life she would be able to defeat the player. Unfortunately she doubted such a meeting would ever take place and her surety would remain forever untested.

Sighed despondently she exited the window and shut down her computer for the night. She needed her energy for school. Plus she loved sleep, she really and truly loved sleep like a long lost brother or sister. She doubted she'd be able to live without it. Well, no one could really live without it, but she was pretty sure she would be one of the few people to miss it if it was ever removed as a human necessity.

Glad she'd already bathed and changed into her pyjamas earlier she had to do little more then climb into her soft warm bed and drift off to sleep with a slight smile on her face.

* * *

She stared sadly at the little alarm clock that was crushed beside her bed. That was the sixth one this month. It wasn't like she meant to crush them, they were just such rude little pieces of technology, waking her from her precious sleep. A cruel and evil invention that was surely created by a sadist that was clearly against mother nature's created rest. Be that as it may, she was now going to have to go through the pain of going into town to buy a new one. Well, she'd stop by on the way home.

Forcing herself into a relatively upright standing position. She stumbled sleepily as she usually did through her morning routine finishing it off with a quick breakfast before she made steps to break the news to her father.

"Otou-san," she began solemnly getting him to look up from his newspaper, "Another alarm clock bit the dust this morning."

"Ah Saki, you need to be more careful with those things," he sighed with a shake of his head.

She nodded her head in agreement, "Hai otou-san, that being said I'm going to need some money to replace it."

He grumbled under his breath as he dug around in his pocket and pulled out the appropriate amount of money. "Eventually you're going to need a part time job to pay for all those clocks I keep buying you."

"If you bought me phone it would solve the problem."

"Then you'd crush that too," he pointed out.

"I'm sure my subconscious knows better then that," she replied.

"Why does it keep letting you crush alarm clocks then?"

"It knows they're cheap," she replied with a grin snapping the money out his hand. "Arigatou, otou-san."

"Hai hai…" he sighed as he watched her gather her things to leave. "Don't be home late."

"Hai otou-san, see you later," she said over her shoulder as she headed for the door. Running out before he had the chance to reply.

"Bye," he muttered to the empty house. He shook his head with a small sigh before unfolding and returning to his newspaper. He wasn't sure he'd ever understand what went on in his child's mind. He could only hope it wasn't something along the lines of death, blood and world domination. Saki didn't seem the type though. She'd probably have a heart attack when she realised how many people she would have to talk in front of to give such a speech. Her shyness he was certain would at least prevent such things. Besides, she'd probably get lost before she made it to the location. Then she'd realise how much work it was and how much sleep she would miss and would promptly admit defeat.

Yes, it was the small things that made him certain they were safe from anything that could possibly go on in Saki's mind. Bless her shy, sleepy, easily lost soul.

* * *

Lord of the Rings was an awesome book. A bit slower compared to the currently more fast paced books, but a good read nonetheless. She was only halfway through the first book though so she couldn't really make an accurate judgement on it yet. From what she could gather so far though, the book was good. Plus it was a nice day. She was willing to be lenient.

The only problem with her nice quite solitude was despite how calming the spot she'd chosen to find, the tree above her kept dropping the petals from it's flowers onto her book. It was actually starting to irritate her. She would find herself holding her breath during a tense moment then a petal would suddenly fall on her page and just ruin the whole thing. If only she was some form of advanced alien that could just put her hand on book and absorb all the information in it. She was sure she had a dream like that once.

Grumbling in irritation she flopped back onto the bank. Letting the book cover her face as she took a moment to breathe.

The pink haired girl passing by found herself suppressing a giggle - something she would never in her right mind allow to pass - as she took in the visage of her disgruntled year mate. She managed to watch the whole little fit of irritation in all it's cuteness and the deeply hidden cute loving girl inside her wanted nothing more then to shout "Kawaii!". Only her amazing self-restraint and control managed to stop such a thing from happening. She had a reputation to maintain.

Blushing slightly she carried on past the girl catching only a brief glimpse of Suga Kyoutarou - her club member - heading towards the short haired girl before she turned her head and faced forward, continuing on her way towards the school.

Said boy approached his friend with caution, knowing how… violent she could be if woken up from a good sleep. He was just hoping her rest hadn't progressed to the sleeping stage yet. Squatting down close to the girl he tentatively poked her shoulder waiting for her response. He was eternally grateful she was surprised rather then angry at his interruption. That meant she hadn't fallen asleep.

"Kyou-chan!" she exclaimed, "Why must you be so cruel?"

"Ah, sorry," the blonde replied with a grin. It was best to calm the beast just in case.

"There better be a good reason for waking me up like this," she mumbled. _I was so close to getting in a good nap._

"Well, I think it's a good reason."

"Kyou-chan," she deadpanned.

He rubbed the back of his head, "I need your help in the cafeteria."

"You want me to go to the cafeteria."

He nodded.

"With you."

He nodded again.

"Where all those people are."

He nodded more slowly now.

"Iie."

"What!? But, Saki, I need your help!"

"I refuse."

"Well I refuse your refusal," he replied quite seriously.

"Doesn't matter, you can't do anything about it."

"I disagree."

"Oh really now? Well what are you-"

Her sentence was promptly cut off as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She was suddenly grateful she'd opted to get a longer skirt at the beginning of the year instead of the shorter ones most of the first years wore.

"Kyou-chan, put me down!" she demanded in a squeak.

"Not until I get my ladies lunch," he replied determinedly.

"Ladies lunch? Ladies lunch!? You're kidnapping me for a ladies lunch!?"

"It looks good."

She sighed and stopped struggling on his back, "Can I at least get my book?"

He paused a moment to consider it. "Alright fine."

* * *

Saki really did hate crowds.

It made her feel self-conscious as all hell. Now she had to deal with the crowds plus the incessant beeping going on with Kyoutarou's phone. It also had the misfortune of reminding her did not have phone. In total she was a tad on edge.

"Kyou-chan, please stop messing around with your phone," she begged after she'd seated herself down next to him.

"Jealous," he smirked through a mouthful of food.

"Shut up," she pouted glancing away quickly.

The beeping continued.

She sighed.

"What're you doing on there anyway?" she questioned.

He swallowed down the mouthful of food in his mouth before replying, "Mahjong. Though I've only just managed to remember all the yaku. It's actually pretty fun once your start remembering all that stuff."

Deciding not to give away her own feelings towards mahjong she just nodded slowly. For her mahjong had always been a bit of a love hate relationship. After the problems with her family in the past which had in a sense pushed her into the beginning of manipulating her score she only recently begun to remember the good times too. She still wasn't sure about playing with other people though. Despite her bravado the previous night it had been a long time since she'd actually played a match around a real mahjong table and not on the computer screen.

Her rediscovery of the fun side of mahjong aside she was still in some ways dubious about it. Mahjong had been the cause of a lot of arguments in the household when she was younger. She wasn't sure how playing in real life would cause her to react. Being alone with just the screen in front of her in weird way prevented the sense of realism playing in real life had.

"I suppose," she mumbled eventually in a delayed reply.

"You can play mahjong?" he questioned a hopeful tone creeping into his voice.

"I guess," she muttered distractedly.

"Oho, not very good are you?" he teased getting a pout from the short haired girl. He continued more to himself, "Well, I suppose you'd be better then nobody at all."

"Huh?"

"You need to come with me. We don't had enough players."

"Players? Wait… nani?"

"For the mahjong club," he added.

She didn't want to though, she didn't want to play. She didn't want to… she… she had the perfect excuse. "But I need to buy a new alarm clock, I don't have time."

"Crushed another did you," He sighed. "Can't you do that tomorrow?"

"If I don't do it now then I won't be able to wake up in the morning," she pointed out with a grin.

He shrugged, "Just use your pho… you don't have a phone."

"Exactly."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "It seems for now you have escaped my clutches, but I expect you to play tomorrow!"

Her shoulders slumped, "Hai."

It seems her excuse would only work on a temporary bases.

"Sayonara," he said with a wave heading off to the mahjong club room.

She nodded her head in reply though he couldn't see it. How was she supposed to get out of playing tomorrow though?

* * *

Swinging the back containing her new alarm clock lightly by her side she contemplated her situation. If Kyoutarou had his way then tomorrow she would be playing mahjong with the members of his club. Unless of course she could avoid him. Even that, however, was not a sure fire way out of the situation. Chances were that eventually he'd manage to corner her and drag her to the mahjong club. That itself was confusing. She was pretty sure that Kiyosumi didn't have a mahjong club or at least it didn't have one when she joined the school, it was one the reasons she chose the place other then the fact that she couldn't afford to go to a more private school.

Kicking a stone that she passed by dejectedly she wondered if her father would question her if she asked for a sudden transfer. She shook her head ruefully, that was not the answer to her problems.

Passing by one of the cafes she usually crossed on her way home she decided she could do with some tea to calm her nerves. Plus she had some left over change from the clock. She'd long ago learnt that there was no point in buying one of the higher end clocks if it was just going be be destroyed in about a week if it was lucky. Her father had yet to catch on though, so she'd managed to accumulate a bit of cash every time she bought one. Now she'd just use it for a good cup of tea instead.

Pushing open the door to the cafe she found herself immediately greeted by a short haired girl with glasses. After being seated and placing her order she took a moment to observer her surroundings.

It was a fairly decent looking establishment even if it was obviously not within the best the town had to offer. The walls were a pale pinky cream with small booths a darker shade of the same colour ran along the sides of the walls. One of which she was seated at with a small dark wood table in front of her that was currently proving its worth by providing her with a place to rest her head. Her eyes drifted along the wooden bar across the room before catching sight of something that almost had her jumping out of her skin.

Sitting calmly in a small enclosed booth at the end of the bar was a mahjong table currently with two men and the girl who'd previously greeted her, sitting around it.

The waitress she'd previously given her order to placed the tea in front of her with a smile before going off to serve whoever else needed her, though the place didn't look to busy to be honest. She returned the smile briefly before she automatically found her eyes turning back to the mahjong table. Even from this far away she could get a sense of what was going on. It was always that way. Being able to feel the game without really seeing it, which she knew most people would laugh at if she'd ever told them, but it didn't change the feeling. She'd actually wandered if she would be able to play blind at one point, though indentions on the tiles would allow her to feel - literally with her fingers - what she'd drawn.

Without her own consent she found her legs carrying her over to the table, her half finished tea left forgotten behind her. Standing there watching them play brought about a mix of feelings all underpinned with a hint of nostalgia. Such a whirlwind of emotion, at had been so long since she'd even been near a mahjong game that wasn't connected to the computer.

The two things were so different, the real life game literally allowing you to see more of course.

You could see people's faces and the way they reacted to the different moves you made. How many of what tile they had depending on where within there tiles they pulled their discard from. Those of course were what other people saw, for her there was even more to be seen and felt. It was the reason she'd been able to manipulate her score consistently to plus minus zero. Teru of course hadn't been pleased at her doing that, but at the time it had felt like she really didn't have much choice.

Her revere was broken when the girl at the table caught sight of her after the last hand.

"Ano… do you want to join?" she asked after placing her glasses back over her eyes from where they'd been resting on her head. Which was weird in itself, but Saki had become used to associating weird and mahjong players together awhile back.

"Uh… I ah… that is…" she trailed off uncertainly.

"Eh Mako-chan, trying to runaway from our weekly game? Scared we're going to beat you this time," the one furthest from her joked with a grin.

"Like you can even get close to me anymore oji-san," the now identified Mako teases.

"You just broke my heart," he dramatically poses in a state of death.

The thinner man across from him kicks the balding man's shoe, "Eh now stop teasing her. Poor Mako-chan's probably bored with just the two of us."

"Well, it's not like we knew Misaka-baka was going to cancel."

"Probably washing away his sorrows, you know what _she _can be like."

"Poor bastard probably needs it," he agreed.

They both shuddered simultaneously.

Making an impulse decision Saki interrupted before the conversation went any further, "I would like to play, if you don't mind… that is."

"Of course we don't mind little oujo-chan. Playing with four is always better then three."

"Yoroshiku," she replied with a shaky grin walking round the table to take a seat taking the West seat, if their earlier play was anything to go by. They were probably too lazy to draw for seats again. No longer distracted by the game like she had been previously Mako suddenly realised the girl was wearing a very familiar seifuku.

"You go to Kiyosumi don't you?" she asked in surprise.

"Hai," she murmured confusedly.

"Me too," she grinned. "Didn't know there was anyone outside the Mahjong Club that played. Most girls who do go to Kazekoshi."

_Oh crap, _Saki thought with a wince, _Now I'm really screwed. _

"You in the club?" she asked as the began stacking there tiles.

"Hai, it's lot's of fun. You should come by sometime."

Saki grinned weakly before shaking her head and getting back to matters, "So we playing a pretty standard game?"

"Four east hands, four south hands. Nothing else really different from the standard rules," Mako replied. Not really sure how much this girl actually new about mahjong or even the terminology used in the game.

She nodded her head in agreement and looked down at the hand she'd drawn. There was a small grin that wanted to work it's way onto her face. It was pure luck she even managed to keep a straight face. She forgot how nice it was for the tiles to work in her favour. She hadn't even had to draw a tile and she was already in tempai. She could only wish for such a thing when playing online. Though even for her this wasn't exactly common. The question now was, how did she want to play?

She could sense if she called riichi she would then draw her winning tile. That however, wasn't the question. The question was did she want to play to win or play a plus minus zero game. The girl next to her felt like fairly good player or at least quite a ways ahead in skill compared to the gentlemen she was playing.

It was her turn. She was going to play to win. It had been so long she just had to. Keeping her expression blank and her voice clam she moved as if to discard her north tile. She found that scared people more then seeming excited about it. If you were calm it seemed like an everyday occurrence. With a flick of her wrist she spun the tile to declare a double riichi or at least in this instant it did, given it was her first turn.

"Riichi," she declared softly placing her riichi stick at the centre of the table.

Taking her next tile she didn't even need to glance at it to know it was a her winning tile. Placing it face up she exposed her hand. It was a good one too. Well, not a monster hand, but good by most people's standards.

"Double riichi, ippatsu tsumo. 2000/3900."

Yeah, she was going to kick there asses. If only because that explanation about what kind of mahjong rules they'd be following was on the patronising side, she could have just said it would be standard.

* * *

Once the girl had left and the old men had excused themselves Mako ran for the phone. Typing in the numbers frantically she barely kept from hyperventilating when she missed several of them and had to start over again. Finally managing to type the number in correctly she stood there tapping her foot impatiently as the phone rang.

She'd almost put the phone down and decided to run there when the phone was finally answered.

"Mako?" came a questioning voice from the other side of the line.

"Buchou," she gasped.

"Ah… what?"

"I found our fifth player!"

* * *

Arriving at school the next day Saki couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in herself and largely guilty. The way she'd played yesterday had been really rude and it wasn't something she normally did. She'd known that playing at that level was too much, but she done it anyway. Getting a bit caught up in the moment.

While she had held back to a certain degree - something she always did when knowingly facing players weaker then herself - it hadn't been nearly enough for the level of the players she'd been playing. It was one of the reasons she'd developed the plus minus zero technique in the first place. She felt bad when she won too much in that way because it never felt fair to her. It was like she was playing with completely extra sense in comparison to everyone else. Not for everyone of course. She knew there were other players like her that could feel that game that way, but they weren't exactly common and even then not all of them could feel as much or control it in such a way. And you know what they say, in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.

Sighed despondently she stretched her arms above her head, hoping to shake the last of her sleep. She winced when the stretch pulled on the place she'd bruised her back last night falling out the bath. Clumsiness really was a curse. Rubbing the spot to ease the worst of the pain she headed towards the library to try and find the sequel to the Fellowship of the Ring. It was there she was intercepted by Mako, Kyoutarou and Takei Hisa - the student council president.

"Student _Congress _President," she corrected Saki with a shake of her finger after she'd exclaimed 'Student Council President' in surprise.

"Aren't you picky?" Mako sighed from behind her.

"Let's see here," the red head muttered as she leant over the counter to get a look at the computer.

"Stop snooping around," Mako sighed once again, not expecting to actually be listened to, but deciding that common sense needed to be pointed out.

Which was true enough as Hisa read the screen quickly, "Ah? I have that book, in fact I have every volume. Want to borrow the-"

Her well thought out exchange was interrupted by the library doors flying open, Kyoutarou hurling himself through in his rushed attempt to get to Saki before the girl found another way to skip out. Lucky for him her alarm clock had remained in tact that morning and such an excuse had been blown out the window, though she had been tempted to break it anyway.

"Saki!" he exclaimed, "You have a promise to fulfil!"

"Suga-kun," Hisa said, interrupting his grand entrance, "Do you mind waiting a moment?"

"Whatever it is Student Council President-"

"Student _Congress _President," she reminded.

He deflated a moment before gathering up his energy and continuing, "Fine then Student Congress President! Whatever it is, it has to wait! I'm here to get this girl and drag her to the Mahjong Club before she finds a way to escape once again!" there was a brief pause as he turned to the short haired girl. "Ah… Saki, you didn't break your alarm clock this morning did you?"

She sadly shook her head. The one time she wished she had.

"Then you have no excuses or escape! You are coming with me!"

"Hai," she sighed despondently.

Hisa chose this moment to interrupt, "Wait, so you made this girl promise _yesterday_. That she would come play _today._"

"Hai, I wanted to get her to play yesterday, but she broke her alarm clock and had to buy a new one."

"Kyou-chan! You didn't need to tell them that part," she pouted.

Mako grinned, "Well, at least it explains how you ended up playing mahjong in my family cafe yesterday."

"Nani? You played mahjong yesterday anyway!" Kyoutarou exclaimed with fake tears. "How could you!?"

Saki just started at them all in a bit of shock. She had no idea how the conversation had escalated to this point. She turned to the red head on her left, "Ano, can I still borrow the book?"

She shrugged, "Sure, as long as you play."

The girl hung head for a moment before giving in with a nod, "Hai, I promised Kyou-chan anyway. At least I'm getting something out of it now."

"Hey!" yelled the blonde haired boy. "Playing me is a joy and a privilege."

"Hai hai, whatever gets you through the day," Mako teased, adding in her own two cents.

* * *

"Why are you playing so badly!" exclaimed Mako in shock, "You played scarily good yesterday!"

"I don't even like Mahjong," Saki mumbled.

"Nani?"

She shrugged and added, "It's not like plus minus zero is a bad score."

"It is compared to yesterday," she replied.

"Well, maybe yesterday was luck. You know that can happen sometimes," she retorted.

"We played five games," Mako deadpanned, "and the only reason we managed to play five games was because they ended so quickly when you managed to make one of us go bust. Sometimes before we even reached the South Round."

"Really?" commented Hisa, "You never specified how good she was. Only mentioning that you had someone who could play for us."

"I wanted to surprise you," the glasses wearing girl returned.

"Sorry," the red eyed girl sighed. "I just felt kind of bad about the way I played yesterday. It was bad sportsmanship. So, I thought I'd play the plus minus zero game I used to play with my family in the past."

"Plus minus zero? You got that score _specifically_?" questioned Hisa.

"Hai," she replied with a grin.

"Coincidence," Nodoka stated with absolute surety. "It's impossible to manipulate your score to that degree. Managing it once doesn't mean anything."

Saki turned to face the pink haired girl trying desperately not to get distracted by the breasts on display. That girl had a scarily large pair of knockers. They'd been a major dis-distra - whoa - she almost lost her train of thought there just thinking about them. She mentally focused herself. They were a serious distraction throughout the previous game, they were a serious distraction now in fact. Shaking such thoughts from her head she gave the girl a grin and with confidence she didn't normally have replied, "Oh, yeah. Want to make a bet on that? I think I could score plus minus zero all day long."

Before Nodoka could reply the president interrupted, "While that would be interesting. I think it would be better explored at a later time. For now I want to see what Mako saw."

"You want me to play like I did then?"

The red head nodded, "Suga-kun out, Mako in. She'll at least be able to tell if you're playing seriously or not."

Saki sighed. This whole thing was ending up a lot more serious then she thought it would. If only she hadn't walked into that cafe. Then she could have gotten away with a few plus minus zero games and walked away scott free. Now she had to deal with all of this.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Not a lot of detail on the mahjong. There'll probably be a bit more in the next chapter, but this will never be intensely focused on that aspect though I actually like watching that part more then anything else in the anime. Until next time hope you enjoyed.

Please review!

There aren't a lot of Saki readers, but those of you who are need to review in order to keep the even fewer writers going!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Saki, sucks for me and you cause if I did the manga would be finished and the second season of the anime would be out!

**Author's Note: **What do you know you guys get another chapter out of me. I was reading some Saki fanfic over this past week specifically A Flower Blooms in the Capital by Soranium and Luck and Logic by Kurrichi two awesome Saki fics which inspired me to write another chapter for you. So you can thank them and read them. I personally recommend them. There are of course other good Saki fics out there, but those have been recently updated which of course leads to inspiration.

Wow guys twelve reviews. Thats good stuff for a Saki story considering the fan base. Continue please, reviews for me are like blood for a vampire I crave them, I want them, I would kill for them. Okay not quite, but you get the point.

Thanks for the reviews and pointing out some of the stupid mistakes I made. I have gone back and corrected those. Please keep reviewing you guys gave some nice positive feedback. As for the chapter length I prefer not to make chapters too long because it kills my mojo and gives me major writers block. Though it seems to find me inevitably no matter what I try. I must point out though, that they're not that short - just ya know, not exceptionally long. This is a bit longer though so...

Anyway, thank you to one of our guest reviewers - you know who you are - for letting me know about them the pushing up the starting date to January 2014 instead of April! You made my day, cause I swear Saki is like the slowest updating manga ever. Keep reading people and please continue review!

**Warning: **You got the complicated yuri warning last time, this time I'm gonna keep it simple. If you don't like girl on girl then please don't read this. I wish to spare your delicate sensibilities.

'Fishing' - Normal

_'Fishing'_ - Thoughts, Emphasis, Flashbacks and Dreams (Use logic to differentiate!)

**Chapter 2:**

Saki looked out at her opponents as she finished stacking her tiles. Trying to get a feel for what hands they had. The girl who'd introduced herself as Yuuki was once again seated in east. Something she suspected was a normality, given the way the flow pulled towards her during the East round and died in the South. Her starting hand felt good too. A hand Saki herself would have liked to receive.

Then there was the girl across from her seated at North with the distracting boobs, Haramura Nodoka. She didn't seem to have any particular sway with the flow in fact it was like the flow didn't affect her at all, her style leaning more towards the analytical. In an odd kind of way it actually reminded her of Teru, particularly how quickly she could finish her hands. Beyond that though, the style itself felt familiar, though she was sure she'd never played against the girl before. During the previous game, however, she hadn't been able to shake the feeling of familiarity. Perhaps if they were still on speaking terms when the game ended she'd mention it.

Discarding her first tile she turned to the right watching as Mako followed her own. The glasses wearing girl had the glasses she occasionally wore on top of her head covering her eyes at the current time. As Saki understood that it usually meant she didn't have a great hand. Though perhaps keeping her glasses on was what she preferred to do with friendly games with her club. But, from what she could feel of the girls hand the later seemed more likely.

She looked down at her hand thoughtfully. It wasn't ideal for what she wanted to do, but that could change with a bit of manipulation. In normal circumstanced she wouldn't resort to this, but with the taco eating girl's strong pull with the flow and the limitations she placed on herself she would need it. Restricting herself to no calling Kan and therefore no Rin Shan could at times be a rather irritating limitation, particularly when she could sense her winning tile in the dead wall. She believed it for the best, however.

For now she needed to mess with the chibi's mind and she had just the plan for it, she'd passed over the earlier three pin just to do so.

"Pon," she called on the small girl's discard. The exact same three pin Yuuki had called on in the previous game, though she'd called Chi not Pon. Saki was aiming for a bigger pay off. Next was the wind. While she could feel that the third wind would eventually come to her in a few rounds she was making this specific hand in order to mess with Yuuki's head. For that she needed to mimic the similarities. She called once again on the North wind, "Pon."

The girl glanced at her in surprise.

Saki was disrupting her hand with the calls she was making.

Now for the six pin. It actually felt a bit odd calling so many times. She'd only ever done that with online games or when she used to call Kan, even Mako was giving her an odd look. Knowing that it didn't quite match up to the way she'd played in the cafe.

"Pon," she called when Yuuki discarded the six pin, though Saki was slightly surprised she'd done so. She should have been able to tell it would be a dangerous discard, the confusion and stress must have been getting to her. That much was obvious without an extra sense. Looking back down at her hand she made the quick decision to discard her five pin. It was the two nine pin which would be coming to her not the five she'd discarded or the two she would get next round. Her pair was already sorted with the two white dragons.

_'Tempai,' _she thought with a grin as the first nine came to her.

Another nine pin followed.

"Tsumo 2000/4000," she said as she placed the tile face down and exposed the rest of them, a five fan Mangan and the perfect way to mess with Yuuki's head and disrupt her play. The girl seemed to prefer to win with Hon-Itsu. Saki managed that and one better when she added Toi-Toi to that list and pushed up the hand value by two fan. It was cruel, but it had to be done or the girl would continue to be problematic throughout the East round. Even so it was the girl, Nodoka, she was most concerned over. She was the best of her opponents at the table and the fact that her play style was so familiar had her feeling a bit on edge.

She hid a small grin by looking down as they organised their next hand. One player seemingly happy that the red eyed girl was playing seriously. The smallest of the the three feeling nervous and disconcerted. And finally the booby… er… pink haired girl trying to think of the a strategy she could go with given the new hand she had drawn. Completely unaware of the hurt she was about to be on the receiving end of.

* * *

It ended in the second hand of the South round. Though Saki attested the fact it lasted even that long to the pink haired girl Nodoka, that was now staring across the table at her in shock. That girl was actually really good, especially for one who couldn't feel the flow. Even more, the style she used was achingly familiar.

"Ano, have I played you before?" she asked nervously with her head tilted to the side.

Nodoka didn't respond her gaze fixed dazedly on the board, seemingly lost in a depressing revere if the look on her face was anything to go by. "What do you mean, Saki-chan?" Yuuki asked when Nodoka failed to reply.

Saki looked at the girl, "Her play style feels familiar."

"Did you play in the inter-middle championships?" Hisa questioned throwing in her own two cents, "Nodoka was the inter-middle champion."

"Really?" said Saki in surprise looking at the girl with new respect.

"So, you know her from there?" Mako asked.

She shook her head, "Iie, I never competed there."

"Hhhmmm…" Hisa hummed thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin. The girl didn't seem like the type, but maybe she'd stumbled across Nodoka's play online at some point. Most players who played by feeling out the flow - as Hisa assumed Saki did - didn't play online, but maybe… "Have you ever played online before?"

Saki nodded and Hisa raised a brow in surprise. That wasn't what she'd been expecting. "Maybe you've come across her there, Nodoka actually prefers playing online."

"What's your screen name?" she asked turning her attention back to Nodoka who seemed to have broken herself from her earlier revere. But it wasn't the pink haired girl that responded despite her attention being intently focused on Saki in a glare that could have frozen hell over.

She shivered.

Scary.

"She goes by Noddochi," Hisa replied, awaiting the girls reaction. If she did play online then she would know the significance of that name. Saki's reaction did not disappoint.

She froze. Her body froze, her mind froze, she just froze. For several moments she didn't move and a silence pervaded the room. Then Saki suddenly exploded with the most energy anyone had ever seen her filled with. She was so close, so close to jumping to her feet she point her hand at the sky and shouting, "Take that you bastard! I always said I would do it and I did! Suck on that!" As it was she managed to keep it levelled at an slightly... well... manic looking grin.

Then she started laughing almost crazily. She may have freaked them out a bit. Fortunately for her they were desperate for a teammate and willing to overlook any insanity. Calming down after such a revelation she let the energy fade from her body. She couldn't believe she'd actually faced _the _Noddochi in real life and beaten her. Still, she'd seemed to be lacking the same amount of skill as the online legend.

Seeing everyone looking at her with expressions ranging from confused to just plain 'she's crazy' she decided it would be best to explain. She turned to face the pink haired girl. "While you might be upset about losing to me, it might make you feel better to know you've beaten me with absolute ease online. Several times in fact."

She sighed and looked down at her hands. She wasn't exactly comfortable talking so much in front of more then one or two people. Especially when she didn't know them and they were staring at her like this. "When I play online it removes any abilities I may have when playing people in real life. In short, I am playing on the same level as everyone else. In that, you far exceed me," she frowned. "Though I do think you play better online."

Saki continued to look at her hands. Nervous to look up and see the way people had reacted to her words. Suddenly she heard the sound of wheels rolling back on the hard floor and footsteps walking towards then past her. The flash of a short skirt out the corner of her eye before the door open and closed, signalling that Nodoka had left the room.

"Nodo-chan looked like she had tears in her eyes…" Yuuki said softly.

"It couldn't be," Mako muttered.

Hisa turned her gaze down towards Saki, the presumable cause for such tears, and contemplated the situation. Shaking her head with slight smile she walked towards the bookshelf. "Miyanga-san," she called. Saki managed to raise her eyes in the presidents direction. "The book I promised you is right here. It's part of the collection of books we keep for when people are waiting to play. If you join the mahjong club you could read them whenever you feel like it."

The red eyed girl could only stare. Slightly thrown of by the sudden change in conversation and mood. The buchou was bringing that up now? After one of her club members had just run crying from the room? While Saki wanted the book, she didn't think it was exactly an appropriate turn of conversation. She turned her gaze away from the red head and back to the door Nodoka had just run through.

"Are you worried?" she asked.

"Huh?" Saki muttered distractedly.

"About Nodoka," she added when Saki couldn't seem to concentrate. She gave the girl a faint smile. "The books won't cry and run away so get going."

_'Get going? What did she mean get going?' _Saki wondered confusedly. '_Get going to wha-?'_

"Oh," she mentally clicked, "Right!"

Heading out the door she jogged down several sets of stairs. Taking care not to trip as she was prone to do. She even climbed over the gate at the end of the pathway carefully to be sure she didn't accidentally face plant. It would be just her luck. Having finally gotten over the gate she was suddenly stuck by the fact that she didn't know which way the other girl had gone.

Contemplating which way to go she walked forward slowly to the other side of the road where she luckily caught sight of Nodoka sitting on a bench about fifty or so metres away. Though those fifty meters would involve another set of stairs. She sighed. The girl really wasn't making this easy for her. Carefully making her way down she finally reached her. Taking a moment to admire her figure and beauty in the afternoon sun before making a move to join her on the bench.

They both sat in silence for several moments. The streetlights flickering on as the sun set further.

She wasn't entirely sure what she'd done to upset the girl to this point, but there was clearly something she'd done wrong. It would be a lot harder to fix without knowing exactly what it was in the first place, but still. Deciding that girl wasn't going to be the instigator of the conversation Saki took a deep breathe before breaking the silence.

"You know, Haramura-san. Before I discovered online mahjong it was just something I did with my family and I don't mean that in a good way. I have a lot of bad memories associated with it. It was the start of a lot arguments in my house. Win or lose they were always angry, honestly I think it was just an excuse to get angry. That's why I started playing my plus minus zero game," she explained to the quiet girl. "That's all mahjong was to me."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "When I found online mahjong it helped me in some ways to remember the good associated with it. Playing you helped me find that. But it was still a love hate relationship. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. But, recently it's been different. Playing yesterday at Mako's cafe. More importantly playing today with you," she gave the girl a grin. "It made me feel happy."

"'For some reason?' That's because it feels good to win," Nodoka replied flatly.

"Was it that obvious," Saki threw in with a nervous laugh. When she received no reply she sighed. "While winning does feel nice, it's not what I'm talking about." She blushed, "It's because of you, Haramura-san. Playing against you makes it good. With you there it felt… different to the times I played with my family. Even to the way it felt at Mako's family cafe." She moved closer to face the girl with a smile. "It was fun!"

Nodoka stared at the girl wide-eyed for several seconds before looking down, "Because you finally got to beat Noddochi."

"Wha- its… iie, you missed the point. Are you being purposefully obtuse? It's not beating you that makes it great. It's playing against you. As Nodoka or Noddochi. Playing against you is better then playing against anyone else," she tried to explain.

"For me…" Nodoka started before standing up, "…it's painful."

"You have all this confusion. You treat the game like just that. Nothing more then a game, but it isn't that way for me. I love mahjong. So it hurts to lose to you, because you don't even like the game."

Saki stared up at her in shock. Her red eyes glazed as she recalled the careless words she'd mumbled earlier that day. She didn't realise what she'd said had had so much effect on the beautiful girl.

"Besides," the pink haired girl continued, "there are more strong opponents then just me out there. At the nationals."

Saki looked down her eyes closed tight as she heard the footsteps of the girl slowly fading. Didn't she understand what Saki was trying to say. There were always strong opponents out there. Her sister was proof of that. But, it had been special to play against Nodoka because of who she was. Because she was Nodoka, because she was Noddochi because of the joy playing both of them had brought her in such a long time. After so much bad, they brought such fun and good to the game for her.

She stood up and looked at the path the girl had taken.

"Nationals, huh?"

_'Is that where you want to go Haramura-san,'_ she wondered as she watched the fading figure of the girl. '_If it's where you want to go then maybe I can help you get there.' _She chuckled ruefully, "Maybe I'll even get to see Teru again. What a family reunion that would be."

Suddenly Saki felt a shiver up her spine. She swore she could here crazy laughter somewhere in the distance. Maybe she wasn't the only one who'd lost it a bit today.

* * *

She ran her hand across the mahjong table that had caused her so much grief in that past. Her mind whirling with the words Nodoka had spoken to her earlier. She wondered how true they were. Did she really not like mahjong or did she just not like what had happened with mahjong in the past. "'Doesn't like', huh?" was that the truth.

"Saki?" her father called interrupting her from her revere.

"This is rare. For you to touch the mahjong table," he said from his position in the doorway.

She looked back at him the down at the board in front of her. Her father was unaware of the fact that she played online mahjong, but there was some truth in his statement. She hadn't even been able to look at the board for the longest time. She hummed in agreement, allowing him to stand beside her as the both stared down at the old board.

"I wonder if I should sell it," he wondered.

"Ah," Saki breathed in sharply. Even with all the bad associated with the board. Surely he wouldn't do that.

"I mean, we don't exactly play as a family anymore, right?" he said, bitterness colouring his voice. It took Saki a moment to remember she wasn't the only one who'd been hurt.

"Hn," she mumbled as she looked back down at the table. Staring at much more then just the physical object that at there. She reached out a hand to brush her fingers across the tiles. "Wait a bit. Keep it around a little longer, won't you? You ever know what the future might hold. Maybe we could play together again one day."

At least that's what the idealist in her said. It said that her mother and sister might still comeback, that they could play as a family again. It was the more jaded side of herself that stopped from saying that much out loud. Once burned twice shy, after all.

"I wonder about that…" her father side as he rubbed the magazine in his head across his forehead before placing it down on the table. Allowing her to see it was the latest Mahjong Today. "Page 57," she heard from behind her.

"Huh?" she let out in confusion as she watched him turn away. Shrugging it off she picked up the magazine and flipped through that pages till she found the one she was looking for. Her breath caught in her throat. "Onee-chan," she muttered sadly as she stared down at the pages before gripping the magazine tighter. Holding it close to her chest. Perhaps it was a desperate longing to see her again. That holding the magazine could help her feel closer. It had been so long since they'd last seen each other.

She winced.

And their parting had not been on the best of terms.

Sighing despondently she headed back to her room. Flicking the lights on as she entered. Heading over to her desk she placed the magazine down next to her computer. She wondered if Nodoka would be playing online tonight. A small smile played at the corner of her lips though she tried not to get her hopes up. After such a day she doubted it.

Suddenly her mind jumped to Nodoka's online avatar and she found herself blushing. The girl really did look a lot like her online avatar. Despite the doubts she'd had. Particularly over her breasts being so large. If anything the avatar made them look smaller. Shaking her head before he thoughts got too dirty she turned the to something a lot safer. Like did she have penguin to match the avatar too?

* * *

Nodoka found herself sitting in the Mahjong room reading Lord of Rings. Ask her and she'd never confess that it had anything to do with the short haired girl who she'd played against yesterday. It was getting a bit hard to focus though, with all the extra noises going on. Yuuki was snoring away of the mahjong table muttering something about tacos. Nodoka just hoped she wasn't drooling, that would damage that table. Then there was Mako typing away on the computer which irritated her ears to a large degree. Like someone chewing popcorn with there mouths wide open in the seat next to you at the movies.

The president was fairly quiet. Occasionally taking sips of her tea without too much noise, though she seemed to be waiting for something with rapt attention. It wasn't the tea drinking that was loud, just the tea boiling. Individually not that much, it only totalled to large irritation when combined together. She turned the page of her book as the president spoke to break the 'silence'.

"It should be any moment now."

"Huh?" questioned Kyoutarou as he stopped mid-walk at the presidents odd statement.

The answer to the question stood outside the door trying to gather the courage to enter. It wasn't actually what she wanted to tell them that was sapping her courage. It was the fact that they would all be staring at there while she did so. Kami-sama, but she hated speeches.

Holding her breath she squeezed her eyes tightly such as if hoping it would shut out the nerves to.

No such luck.

Suddenly her leg seemed to snap out of its own accord. Pushing the door open with force. She both thanked the limb for it's courage and cursed it for the same thing. Why couldn't it be as shy as the rest of her.

Suddenly she realised everyone in the room had stilled there actions and was staring at her. More importantly Nodoka was staring at her. She felt a blush crawling up her skin. Why did she have to be shy!? '_It's okay, it's all good,' _she tried to mentally calm herself and firm her resolve as she walked into the room.

"Miyanaga-san," exclaimed Nodoka in surprise as she stood up from her spot, _'Oh Kami-sama why'd she have to stand up like that. Doesn't she know her boobs bounce when it happens,' _she shook her head. _'Don't focus on the boobs.'_

She took a deep breath, "Is there any chance… that ah… maybe I could perhaps join your club?"

Finally she managed to get it out. There was a simultaneous gasp throughout the club and Nodoka felt a grin inadvertently finding it's way onto her face.

Hisa smiled, "Welcome to the mahjong club! We're happy to have you."

_'Of course we are,' _Mako thought with a mental laugh. Hisa was trying to play it cool, but in all honesty they needed Saki more then she needed them if they were going to make it to Nationals.

"Hai," Saki replied. She managed to gather her courage and give Nodoka a cheeky grin, "I'm looking forward to playing you a lot more Haramura-san." Nodoka's grin dropped a bit, but Saki continued. "And winning a lot more. I have lot of games to beat you in before I break even with the number you've beaten me at."

Nodoka gave Saki a grin that said, 'I will crush you like a bug'.

"Take a seat," she gestured. "I'm not letting you win today."

"You're welcome to try," she teased back sighing happily inside. Talking to Nodoka seemed to have a relaxing effect on her.

"I'm going to do more then try," Nodoka replied, though the corner of her mouth twitched, giving away her teasing.

"Bring it on Boob-chan," she Saki laughed.

"Say that a again," Nodoka muttered darkly.

Waving her hands in front of her desperately Saki protested, "I take it back, I take it back. Don't kill me."

"Judgement has yet to be passed, but don't hold your breath."

Saki just laughed nervously.

* * *

She was dreaming.

_The sky clear much like the one she would have seen had she been awake. But the location was a bit different. An empty field with only the trees and mountains for company. And there was someone standing with her she hand't seen in a long time._

_"Rinshan Kaihou? What's that?" she questioned with her young voice. Looking up at the face of her sister. _

_"It's the name of one of the yaku in mahjong," explained the older girl. Her magenta coloured hair floating gently in the breeze. "It means 'flower that blooms on top of the mountain'."_

_The younger version of herself seemed to think the statement over for a moment. Her little face contemplative, "Blooms?" she muttered. Then a grin suddenly spread across her face. "That's the same as mine! My name means 'bloom'! Right?"_

_She smiled up at her sister as the thought came to her._

_"That's right Saki! Even far above the tree line on the tallest of mountains, there are pretty little flowers that bloom. Saki, if you bloom with all your might, just like those flowers…"_

The dream faded out of focus as she found herself woken by the blare of her alarm. Bright sunlight flooding through her window as the morning greeted her. Reaching out a hand she softly turned of the alarm. Something she hadn't done it a while. She glanced at her bedside table, the open article on her sister resting there where she'd placed it last night.

"A dream?" she murmured.

Of course it was a dream. Even the last words her sister had spoken to her hadn't been filled with that same kindness. She sighed. It had been a while since she'd played Rin Shan. It had been a while in fact since she'd even called kan to do so. "You trying to tell me something onee-chan."

She chuckled ruefully and shook her head.

"I wouldn't put it past you."

* * *

Nodoka sighed as she placed the final tile into place. While she hadn't calculated the scores yet she could tell that the score wouldn't be the plus minus zero she was looking for on any of them. Even playing with all four hands visible she couldn't manage it. At first she hadn't believed it to be possible even after Saki had managed it once and then made her go bust the next hand. However, the following day Hisa had asked her to play only plus minus zero hands… and she'd done it. She'd done it with relative ease. With the entire table working against her.

Then after she'd done it she'd just gone and waved it off like it was nothing, absolutely nothing. As if anyone could do it.

She sighed. How were so supposed to deal when everything you felt sure of was just knocked off its axis? She certainly didn't know. She was the inter-middle champion. Considered the best in her year, at least until Saki came along and yanked the rug out from underneath her feet. It probably wouldn't have effected her so bad if the girl just cared about what she'd done or showed that she was putting any sort of effort into it. But, she just waltzed around like… like… she mentally sighed. Her mind was honestly just going in circles at this point.

Staring at the tiles she pulled out a score sheet grabbed a pen and started working out the score. Absentmindedly calculating the score she found her mind wondering once again to Saki as it always seemed to be doing. She'd actually managed to stop thinking about her this morning, but then the damn press just had to be following her around this morning to remind her off that the girl was capable of. Asking all those questions when she really just didn't need to be reminded.

Glancing up at the sound of the door opening she found herself greeted by the smiling face of Kyoutarou followed closely by Saki and Yuuki, the later of which was hanging on Saki's back like a monkey. Normally that was a duty she allocated to Kyoutarou, but it seemed the boy had somehow managed skive off and throw Saki in the line of fire.

The poor girl looked like she was going to pass out at any second.

"Nodoka," she rasped, "you look nice today."

Then promptly collapsed to the floor. Jumping off the prone girl Yuuki grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her, "Saki-chan, hold on."

The girls head flopped around on her neck with the frantic movements. A dazed look on her face. Nodoka was actually worried that Yuuki's frantic shaking would eventually get the girls head off her shoulders. Moving over to kneel beside them to calm Yuuki down before it actually happened her actions were halted when the girl managed to come to before anything nearly so dangerous happened.

Blinking blearily the girl stared at first Yuuki's face then turned slightly to look a the other pink blur at the corner of her vision that slowly cleared into the more well known face of Nodoka. Confusedly she reached up a hand in her general direction. Nodoka watched in confusion is the hand seemed to swerve first left then right before finally finding it's landing spot on her breast.

Her face flushing red Nodoka stared in shock as the girl seemed to feel around for a moment before releasing her.

"Yup, feels real," Saki muttered, moving into a sitting position.

Nodoka backed away with both hands in front of her boobs protectively, "H-h-how does that help?"

"Not sure, made sense when I did it though," she mumbled then looked up at Nodoka apologetically. "Gomen."

"Iie… ah… it's fine," she muttered, turning her back quickly and walking back towards the table. Following the pink haired girl nervously at a distance Saki forced the feeling of the girls breasts to the back of her mind.

"Kyou-chan, help me make some tea," said Yuuki as she tugged on his arm.

"Huh?" he mumbled waking up from his Nodoka induced fantasy.

"Tea, help me make some tea," she repeated. Then struck a suggestive pose, "Unless you'd rather help with a little-"

"Iie, let's stick with the tea," he deadpanned as they both moved over to the other side of the room.

Watching them for a moment Saki then turned her attention back to Nodoka, "What're you doing, Haramura-san?"

She glanced up at the girl feeling a blush crawling up her skin at the proximity. "I-I'm playing all four players with their hands exposed. Even though I know everyone's hands, to get plus-minus zero almost every time is not something easy to do," she explained trying to keep any anger or bitterness out of her voice.

That didn't stop her from giving Saki a glare that had her wilting on the spot.

"Tea's ready!" yelled Yuuki, thankfully interrupting the moment, much to Saki's relief. _'Thank you, Yuuki,' _she mentally praised the girl, _'If looks could kill.'_ The small girl continued,"All righty, let's start playing."

"Aren't we supposed to wait for Takei-san and Someya-san?" asked Saki before they took their seats.

"Oh… yeah," replied Kyoutarou, "Buchou told me they would be busy this afternoon."

Saki nodded in acknowledgement, taking her seat at the table.

"Taco's rock," Yuuki, mumbled through a mouthful of said taco.

"Concentrate!" Kyoutarou replied looking over his tiles as he decided which one to discard.

Yuuki, continued on as if she hadn't heard him, "There's also takoyaki, it's also good cause it sounds like tacos."

Saki grinned at the two of them. They really were some good comic relief. She hated to break it up, but a call was a call. Well, she could call riichi at this point and there was a high possibility of ippatsu if she did, but she was feeling generous today. Also, really tired. Carrying Yuuki up the stairs was no easy feat. Besides… she looked at the player to her left. If she didn't call that tile then Nodoka would declare riichi she was sure though it was always hard to say with her.

"Ron 3200," Saki grinned as she exposed her tiles. "What were you saying about concentration, Kyou-chan?"

It was just a San-An-Kou, which isn't really that fancy. If she hadn't placed the limitation on herself of not calling kan then she probably would have gone that route and finished with up with a Rinshan Kaihou to build the hand value. But, it was a good way to test herself.

"One day, Saki," Kyoutarou murmured. "Just you wait, one day."

"Yup, when I'm long dead in the grave."

"So, you admit you'd kick the bucket before me?" Kyoutarou said gleefully.

"Now, you're just desperate."

"I'm not desperate," he cried. "Yuuki, tell her I'm not desperate."

"Tacos," the girl mumbled lost in her own world.

"Appreciate the help," he deadpanned.

Saki laughed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

So what do you guys think of my new story cover?

I'm not super happy with this chapter I really battled to break from cannon, but I hope you liked it and I'm sorry if I fucked anything up. If I did let me know, just don't flame your heart out all over my reviews page. It won't seem surprising that doing so doesn't exactly inspire the story's continuation. I will at times use part of the the cannon dialogue and interactions, though I'm pretty sure I'll move further and further away from that as the story progresses. At least to a certain extent. It's kinda hard to do that because I'm still wanting them to follow the same things as in the anime. Even people who make Saki go to a different school, still often bring them together for the training camp. You get my point.


End file.
